<rant>To be quite honest with you... In my opinion this video is pure BS.

It's a false choice.

The essence of the video is this: ”better to have a short life, that is – full of what you like doing – then a long life spent in a miserable way". (1:40)

But is it really?

The choice of doing what "you like doing" is most likely shitloads of hours spent doing stuff that you don't want to, at the same time that having a job that is not perfect for you most likely contains good reasons for you to have exactly that job. There is no trade-off between a short fun life with a great job dieing hard, and earning money till you are old.

I agree - Its good to have a job that you love and you make shitloads of money on. But most people won't get that luxury, even when trying hard.

If you really want to take something from this video, it might be that money isn't everything. And that's true. I'd rather have a job paying somewhat less, then the best paying - hardest working - one. </rant>

Well you do have a point Docine, the lecture is clearly biased towards people living in the west.

And one can't take it literally, not everyone can be a astronaut obviously. But that still don't change the core message. Like I got quite a lot of friends that hate their work, and they do the same shit every day just so they can get to that magical weekend. Some of my friends even refuse to contemplate the possibility that you can find a job that is rewarding, work is work and for them it is a negatively charged word.

So what do they do? They spend 5 days a week, 8 hours a day hating what they do. To me that is exactly what Alan Watts is saying.